Why should you focus on your team’s wellbeing at work? How can a culture of wellbeing boost productivity amongst staff? Read on to understand our approach.
Contents
Why is Work Wellbeing Important at a Digital Agency?
Working within a digital marketing agency can be a unique experience. The pace of work constantly fluctuates, the industry is ever-evolving and you need to pull from an abundance of skill sets to just stay afloat, let alone thrive! For a digital marketing agency to flourish, SocialB believes a priority on wellbeing at work is a total must.
What is SocialB’s approach to wellbeing in the workplace?
SocialB’s team has always been a main focus for the agency and their wellbeing is at the centre of that. We have had a dedicated wellbeing team for a few years now, and that team makes sure that everyone is well looked after, from organising round-robin coffee catch-ups to creating different wellbeing challenges and discussion topics each week. We regularly hold mindfulness and yoga sessions to support the staff team to de-stress and facilitate some space to unwind from work.
Mental Wellbeing at Work
The societal conversation around mental health has progressed so much in recent years, but we still have improvements to make in the workplace! Supporting your staff with mental wellbeing at work will enable employees to feel accepted as human beings. Give them permission to have bad days amongst the good, and facilitate space for them to express and work through any difficulties they may be having. According to Mind, 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health issue each year. This means that potentially 1 in 4 members of a staff team could be struggling with a mental health issue that impacts their ability to work successfully. The more that we are able to support them, the more likely they are to find a path to mental health recovery. (Sidenote, recovery is not an option for everyone! Some people have lifelong mental health issues but they are still perfectly capable of flourishing at work)
Financial Wellbeing at Work
Why are finances still such a taboo topic of conversation, especially within the workplace? We are currently living through a cost of living crisis in the UK so discussion around financial wellbeing at work is a core topic to be mindful of. At SocialB, we have previously had open dialogue about keeping warm whilst working-from-home, managing both long-term and short-term finances, and great apps to use for financial empowerment. Some of our favourite apps include Juno, which is an educational tool for women and non-binary people and Monzo to keep on top of financial processes. Towards the beginning of 2022, SocialB also organised for us to have group & 1-to-1 sessions with a financial trainer & adviser to support our internal conversations around money and for better planning in our everyday lives. This was a really empowering process and developed a wonderful foundation for financial wellbeing at work. Consider opening up the conversation about financial wellbeing within your workplace and break the taboo to empower yourself and others!
Social Wellbeing at Work
Creating an inclusive, positive and friendly environment at work is such an important part of SocialB and arguably, the starting point of our wellbeing policy. The main goal is for people to feel comfortable enough to be themselves at work, embracing their quirks and letting their personalities shine. It varies from team to team, but for us, a tried and tested way to bring people closer together is very simple – food! From potluck lunches, to BakeOff competitions (yep, we even had a SocialBaker trophy to give out and a panel of judges to vote for their favourite homemade bakes) – we know it works for our team.
Another thing that goes down well with our staff are challenges – oh boy, do we have some competitive people! The challenges are sometimes very simple, like drinking 2l of water a day for a week, or walking 10k steps, but it gets the team excited and motivated! Pro tip – add a little prize for the winner at the end and the stakes are even higher! Find what works best for your team, what motivates and excites them, and create events around that!
Employee wellbeing working from home
In the pre-Covid times, when everyone was still office-bound, it was easier to book a meeting with the team, reserve a meeting room, and carry out our wellbeing sessions in person. Since then though, we’ve had to adapt to a remote way of working and, like any other area of work, there was an adjustment period until we found our rhythm with our “online” wellbeing. Fortunately for us, this never hindered the team’s motivation to attend the wellbeing sessions. In the beginning, we started by simply putting in a diary invite for a “coffee catch up” every Wednesday morning. It gave us a chance to have a small piece of our normal office life back, by just chatting about our day over a cup of coffee. Since then, we’ve become much more used to carrying out our wellbeing sessions virtually and for some of them, it’s even better that we’re at home (think yoga sessions and guided meditation)!
Working remotely should not be a hindrance to good wellbeing practice at work.
Employee Wellbeing in the Office
Our office days are always a lot of fun, and we try to include bits of wellbeing wherever we can. Having a pet-friendly office definitely helps! There are lots of things that can be put in place for wellbeing. Creating a positive environment (think pictures of team outings on the wall and a basket full of snacks) definitely helps but there are also one-to-one ways to check in on your team members. Our CEO, Lynsey Sweales, has created a habit of booking “walking words” with one team member each week, where she would take them out for a short walk and an informal chat.
Some Ideas for Wellbeing at Work
Wellbeing at work needs to be an authentic venture for it to be truly effective. But without a deeply instilled foundation of workplace wellbeing, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Some of our top ideas to start with would be:
- Start regular wellbeing sessions and develop a diverse schedule of topics to ensure you are supporting members of your team with different wellbeing needs. There are multiple different types of wellbeing including physical, intellectual & social so make sure you’re covering all bases.
- Share regular wellbeing quotes at work within a chat or email stream. This can be a wonderful way to empower and inspire your staff to open up the conversation and share more resources that resonate with them.
- Ask your staff what wellbeing means to them and what types of work wellbeing practices would improve their lives the most. Send out a survey, initiate the conversation in a meeting or use an app to track and measure wellbeing at work. We have been using Friday Pulse as a work wellbeing & happiness tool which we really enjoy.
- Set health & wellbeing challenges to get your staff team to try out something new and approach wellbeing with some healthy competitiveness. Incentivise it by offering wellbeing prizes for people who engage the most. We recently played a game of Wellbeing Bingo which was a roaring success 🙂
- Promote wellbeing at work by regularly identifying skill gaps or topics for discussion that encourage a happy & healthy team. Some of our topics have included active listening, healthy communication and styles of feedback. Develop an approach to learning where there are no experts, everyone’s voice is valid and there are no wrong or right answers.
Conclusion
We hope that you’ve gathered some beneficial ideas for your wellbeing in the workplace. At SocialB, we believe in empowering people in the workplace, in their home lives, and across the digital marketing sphere. We are always open to expanding our team of extraordinary digital marketing specialists. If you believe that you have something to offer and are interested in joining us, get in touch for an informal chat to find out more.
